Siren Song
by Margaret Atwood
This is the one song everyone would like to learn: the song that is irresistable:the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadron seven though they see the beached skulls the song nobody knows because anyone who has heard it is dead, and the others can't remember Shall I tell you the secret and if I do, will you get me out of this bird suit?I don't enjoy it here squatting on this island looking picturesque and mythical with these two feathery maniacs,I don't enjoy singing this trio, fatal and valuable.I will tell the secret to you,to you, only to you. Come closer. This song is a cry for help: Help me!Only you, only you can,you are unique At last. Alas it is a boring song but it works every time.
Analysis:
this poetry is allusion to the Odyssey by Homer. Atwood references the siren's there and their ability to get men to sleep. This poem has a unique voice because if you read it you would think how evil the sirens are actually are, but there's many evidence that the men are actually the ones who goes to them with no force. For example, "will you get me out of this bird suit?" is a use of a man's vulnerability and trying to make him sympathetic so that he can come by himself. Also, the siren saying that she's so picturesque and mythical makes the men imagine and vision how she looks like which makes their natural curiousity grow making them go to them with no force.
Reasons for liking this poem:
I think that this poem is very unique in the sense that it kind of tricks you. You kind of feel sympathy in the beginning but the end just makes you want to kill the bird. I like the way the author uses words, connotations, metaphors, and just the play of words by making this bird so likable and at the same time hate able.
